The foldable smartphone segment has become more competitive with the arrival of the Xiaomi 18 Fold and Apple’s first foldable iPhone Duo. Both devices bring flagship hardware, large foldable displays and premium features, but they take different approaches to cameras, performance, battery capacity and pricing.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold stands out with its 6,000mAh battery, 200MP Leica-backed camera system and 67W wired charging. The iPhone Duo, meanwhile, combines Apple’s A20 Pro chip, titanium construction and a 48MP dual-camera system with the software experience of iOS.
Here is a closer look at how the two foldable smartphones compare across key specifications.
Xiaomi 18 Fold vs iPhone Duo: Display and Design
The iPhone Duo features a 7.6-inch foldable inner display with a 120Hz refresh rate, along with a 5.4-inch outer screen. Apple has used a titanium frame and Ceramic Shield protection, while the device carries an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance.
Xiaomi’s 18 Fold comes with a slightly smaller 7.58-inch inner AMOLED display and a 5.38-inch outer screen. Both displays support a 120Hz refresh rate and can reach up to 4,000 nits of peak brightness. The phone uses Xiaomi’s Dragon Crystal Glass and has IP58 and IP59 protection.
Performance, RAM and Storage
Apple’s iPhone Duo is powered by the A20 Pro chip and comes with 12GB of RAM. Storage options go up to 2TB, giving users a higher maximum storage capacity than the Xiaomi foldable. Apple has designed the hardware and iOS software together, with the A20 Pro also using a vapour-cooled thermal system.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold uses the company’s 3nm Xring O3 chipset. It is available with up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.1 storage. The top-end variant uses LPDDR6 memory.
Battery, Charging and Camera
Battery capacity is one of the major differences between the two phones. Xiaomi has fitted the 18 Fold with a 6,000mAh battery, supported by 67W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
The iPhone Duo uses a dual-battery system and supports fast wired charging, along with MagSafe and Qi2 wireless charging. Apple says the phone can reach up to 50% charge in around 20 minutes with fast wired charging.
For photography, Xiaomi has equipped the 18 Fold with a Leica-backed triple-camera setup. It includes a 200MP primary camera, a 50MP periscope telephoto camera with 3.5x optical zoom and a 50MP ultra-wide camera.
The iPhone Duo features a dual 48MP rear-camera system consisting of a 48MP main camera and a 48MP ultra-wide camera. Apple has also focused heavily on video features, including advanced video recording capabilities available through its camera system.
Xiaomi 18 Fold vs iPhone Duo: Price Difference
Pricing creates a significant gap between the two foldable phones. The iPhone Duo starts at ₹2,99,900 in India for the 256GB variant.
The Xiaomi 18 Fold starts at CNY 10,999 in China, which is approximately ₹1.55 lakh. Its top-end 16GB RAM and 1TB storage model is priced at around ₹2.11 lakh based on the Chinese price. Xiaomi has not announced an official India launch price for the 18 Fold.
On starting prices, this puts the two phones roughly ₹1.45 lakh apart based on the listed prices. The comparison therefore comes down to differences in design, camera hardware, battery capacity, charging technology, processor, storage and the software experience offered by Apple and Xiaomi.